Changes
as of the November 2000 ElectionsState
Legislature: All 70 House seats and all 42 Senate seats were up.
Democrats retained majorities in both chambers although there were minor
changes -- House: 42D, 28R. Senate 24D, 18R.U.S.
House: All three members re-elected.U.S.
Senate: Jeff Bingaman (D) re-elected.

Early voting started on Oct.
18, 2000 (20 days prior to the election). 110,746 such ballots were
cast (18.0% of total)

Regular absentee voting started
40 prior to the election.79,553 such ballots were
cast (12.9% of total)

Early/Absentee Total: 190,299
(30.9% of total votes cast)

OverviewProblems with the count
in Bernalillo county left the outcome in New Mexico uncertain for days
after the election, but Gore ultimately won the state's five electoral
votes by a razor thin margin of 366 votes (0.06 percentage points).
Bush carried 20 counties to 13 for Gore.General
Election Activity

Although
many news accounts attributed the Bernalillo counting problem to a "software
glitch," in fact an administrative failure was to blame: the county clerk's
office did not run the standard logic and accuracy test on the voting machines
before the election. The problem became apparent on Election Night,
and the clerk's office withdrew about 67,000 early vote and absentee ballots
from the tally. On Nov. 9, workers in a warehouse in Albuquerque
began the recount, hand-feeding the ballots into the voting machines.
By Nov. 11, Bush had gained a statewide lead of 17 votes, but some emergency
ballots remained to be counted and totals were still fluctuating.
The State Canvassing Board finalized Gore as the winner with a plurality
of 366 votes on Nov. 29.